General Relativistic Simulations of Binary Neutron Star Mergers
Bruno Giacomazzo, University of Maryland
Binary Neutron Star mergers are thought to be at the origin of
short gamma-ray bursts and they are also one of the most powerful sources of
gravitational waves (GWs) which are expected to be detected by the current
or next generation of gravitational wave detectors, such as LIGO and Virgo.
I will report on some of the most recent results obtained with the fully
general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic code Whisky in simulating binary
neutron stars during the last phases of inspiral, merger and collapse to a
black hole surrounded by a torus that could potentially power a short-GRB. I
will describe the properties both of the tori and of the GWs emitted by
these systems and how they are related to the mass, equation of state and
magnetic fields of the neutron stars that compose the binary.